Method for treating coffee-berries.



J. M. 'URGBLLBSF METHOD FOR TREATING COFFEE BERRIBS.

APPLICATION FILED DEU.11, 1911.

Patented Sept..10, 1912.

m M W N. U m

vw y JOSE nA'ncELmo essence, or BARACOA, cone.

METHOD FOR TREATING COFFEE-BERRIES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 10, 1912.

Application filed December 11, 1911. Serial No. 664,928.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Josii MARCELINO UReELLIis, a citizen of the UnitedStates,

and a resident of Baracoa, Cuba, have invented a new and Improved Methodfor Treating Coffee-Berries, of which the fol-Q lowing is a full, clear,and exact description.

ger of injury to the beans.

The method consists essentially in em-i bedding sand, sawdust or otherabrading' material in the pulp of the berry, then subf jecting the berry.to a grinding, tumbling and brushing act-ion with a View to causetheabrading material to loosen and detach the pulp from the berry, andfinally separating the berry from the removed pulp and abradingmaterial.

In order to carry the method into effect, use is made of a machine such,for instance, as shown in the accompanying drawings, in which similarcharacters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal central section of the machine; Fig. 2 is anenlarged sectional side elevation of the embedding device; and Fig. 3 isan enlarged section of the berry.

Cofi'ee berries as harvested (see Fig. 3) have an outer skin A, next'tothat a layer of pulp A, which incloses usually two beans A each inclosedin a shell A". The berry is first treated in a skin remover to removethe outer skin from the berr and to cleave the remaining portion, so tat practically two berries are formed each having a bean A a shell A andpulp A surrounding the shell. The pulp A is a sweet, mucilaginoussubstance of a light color and clings very tenaciously to the shell A,and the object of the invention presently to be described in detail isto remove this pulp "in a simple, eifective and economical manner.

The outer skin A of the berry is removed and the berry is cleft in askin re mover.- B of any ap roved construction, and the berries with t eskin A removed are discharged from the said skin remover B by way of aspout B into a. central hopper C flanked b hoppers D and E adapted tocontainsan sawdust or a like material to directly above the drum F.

be used as a grinding material for loosen ing or'removing the pulp fromthe berries, as hereinafter more fully described. The hoppers C and Ddischarge onto an endless belt F mounted to travel in the direction ofthe arrow a, so that the abrading' material is discharged from thehopper D I by way of its s out D onto the upper run The object of theinvention is to provide a new and improved method for treating cofieeberries, whereby the pulp is removed 1 from theberries in a very simple,effective and economical manner and without danof the belt F in a thinlayer onto which pass the berries from the hopper C, and the berries arecovered up by another layer of abrading material discharged through thespout E of the hopper E, which latter is 2 preferably provided with asecond spout E arranged beyond the endless belt F, as plainly indicatedin'Fig. l. The spouts D and E are provided with transversely extendinggrooved distributing rollers D E to cause an even distribution of theabrading material on the upper run of the belt F. .By. the arrangementdescribed the coffee. berries are interposed between the bottom and toplayers of abrading material and this abradingpmaterial is pressed intothe pulp A, by t e use of a presser roller G arranged over the dischargeend of the belt F so as to embed the abrading material in the pulp A.The endless belt F asses over drums F, F of which the rum F is driven,and the presser roller G is located. The berries with the abradingmaterial embedded therein drop off the forward end of the belt F into ahopper H into which discharges the spout E of the hopper E so as tosupply an additional amount of abrading material to the hopper H, thespout E being provided with a distributing or a feeding roller E similarto the rollers D and E The hopper H delivers the berries with theabrading material embedded therein and the additional abrading materialreceived from the spout E to a horizontally disposed casing I of agrinding, tumbling and brushing device I containing a series of grindingrollers 1*, one in front of the other, and provided with spiral ribs andseparated from each other by feed wheels I, and the said grindingrollers I and the feed wheels I are secured on a shaft I extendingcentrally through the casing I and journaled in the ends therein. On theshaft I in front of the last grinding roller I are arranged spiralbrushes I secured on the shaft I and also separated from each other by.feed wheels I. When the machine is running and a rotary motion is givento the shaft I then the rollers I subject the herries with the abradingmaterial therein and the additional abrading material to a grinding andtumbling action whereby the pulp is loosened and more or less detachedfrom the berries, and the berries and the abrading material are fedforward by the action of the spiral ribs of the rollers I and by thefeed wheels I, and the said herries and abrading material are finallysub jected to the action of the brushes 1 to detach as much as possiblethe pulp from the berries, the berries, pulp and sand being finallydischarged through a spout I on the forward end of the casing I to dropinto a hopper J of a washing and agitating device J. This washing andagitating device J is provided with a fixed casing J 2 having its lowerportion J 3 perforated and extending within a tank K containing water orother washing liquid. The tank K is provided with an inclined bottom Kleading to a discharge spout K for discharging the abrading material andpulp from the tank to a suitable place of discharge.

Within the casing J 2 are arranged feeding and agitating wheels Jsecured on a shaft J 5 extending centrally through the easing J andjournaled in suitable bearings arranged on the ends of the said casing.

When the machine is running the wheels J agitate the berries in thewater so that the berries are thoroughly washed and any pulp that mayadhere to the berries is removed therefrom especially as the sandfacilitates the final removal of'any particles of the pulp that mayadhere to the berries.

The forward end J of the casing J 2 extends to within a short distanceof the shaft J 5 and leads. to a spout L discharging into a suitablereceptacle N for receiving the berries, it being understood that theberries are carried forward in the casing J 2 by the wheels J andfinally ass over the end J into the hopper L whi e the sand and pulppass through the perforations in the lower portion of the casing J 2 andinto thetank K to be discharged therefrom through the spout K On theshaft J 5 are secured fastand loose pulleys 0 connected by belt withother machinery for imparting a continuous rotary motion to the shaft Jand'the latter is con nected by a suitable drivin gear P such as beltand pulleys with the s aft 1* to rotate the latter in unison wit-h theshaft J and the latter is also connected by a driving mechanism Q, suchas a belt and pulleys, with a countershaft R connected by belts andpulleys S with the drum F and by a driving mechanism T with the feedrollers D E and E, whereby atraveling motion is given to the belt F anda rotary motion to the said feed rollers D E and E. r

It is understood that when the machine is running the berries are placedbetween two layers of abrading material and then the latter is pressedinto the pulp of the berries by the presser roller G, after which theberries with the abrading material embedded therein are subjected to agrinding, tumbling and brushing action in the device I to loosen thepulp and separate the same from the berries. It is further understoodthat the embedded abrading material and the loose additional abradingmaterial tends to cut up the pulp in the device I and by subjecting theberries, pulp and abradingmaterial to a subsequent washing and agitatingoperation in the device J the berries are cleaned of the pulp and thelatter and the abrading material are separated and separately dischargedfrom the machine.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent: a

1 The herein described method for removing the pulp of coffee berries,consisting in embedding an abrading material in the pulp of the berry,then subjecting the berry to a grinding action to cause the abradingmaterial to remove the pulp from the berry, and then separating theberry from the removed pulp and abrading material.

2. The herein described method for removing the pulp of coffee berries,consisting in pressing an abrading material into the pulp of the berry,then subjecting the berry with the abrading material thereon to agrinding action, and subsequently to a cleaning action to detach thepulp and abrading material from the berry, and finally separating theberry from the detached pulp and abrading material.

3. The herein described method for removing-the pulp of coffee berries,consisting in pressing an abrading material into the pul of the berry,then subjecting the berry wit the abrading material thereon to agrinding action, then to a polishing action, then washing the berry andseparating the berry from the removed pulp and abrading material.

4:. The herein described method for removing the pulp of coffee berries,consisting in feeding the berries onto a layer of an abrading material,then covering the berries with another layer of abrading material, thensubjecting the berries and layers of abiading material to pressure toembed the abrading material in the pulp of the berries, then subjectingthe berries with the abrading material to a grinding action and tumblingaction to loosen and detach the pulp from the berries, then subjectingthe berries to abrushing action to completely detach the pulp andabrading material from the berries, then washing the berries andseparating the berries from the pulp and abrading material.

5. The herein described method for removin the pulp of coffee berries,consisting in fee g the berries onto a layer of an abrading material,then covering the berries with another layer of abrading material, thensubjecting the berries and layers of abrading material to pressure toembed the abradin material in the pulp of the berries,

, then ad g abrading material to theberries,

then subjecting the berries with the abrading material to a grindingaction and tumbling action to loosen and detach the pulp from theberries, then subjecting the berries to a brushing action tocompletelfy; detach the pulp and abrading material om the berries, then'washing the berries and separating 15 the berries from the pulp andabrading material; I 1 a In testimony whereof I have signed my name tothis specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOSE MAROELINO URGELLES.

Witnesses:

Tmco. G. Hos'rnn, PHILIP D. -ROLLHAU8.

